September 07, 2011

Interesting take on A&M/SEC situation from Mississippi State president

Here is an interesting take on the Texas A&M/SEC situation from Mississippi State president Mark Keenum, as told this evening to mississippistate.scout.com:

What is the current situation in regard to Texas A&M joining the Southeastern Conference?

Keenum: "Last night, we (the SEC presidents) were called to Atlanta by (SEC) Commissioner Slive to discuss the possibility of accepting the application that had been submitted to the conference by Texas A&M to join the SEC. We were to arrive at 6 pm. As the different presidents and chancellors arrived, we gathered together and the commissioner came in and said we have had a late-breaking development. He said we have heard from one of the Big 12 member schools, one of the presidents of one of their schools called and said he would no longer support his earlier agreement to give Texas A&M complete legal waiver to leave the Big 12. He had changed his position and would pursue legal actions against the Southeastern Conference if we were to extend an invitation to Texas A&M. We also heard from the commissioner of the Big 12 and he basically reiterated that a member school had withdrawn their earlier support and he anticipated legal action from that particular school.

"So, that was the situation as we entered the meeting last night. It was a complete surprise to all of us because we had received a letter from Dan Beebe, the Commissioner of the Big 12 … that clearly spelled out that their league had unanimously voted to give Texas A&M complete legal waiver from any potential legal action, allowing them to leave the Big 12 conference. That's what prompted the formal meeting of all the presidents coming to Atlanta and making a decision as to whether or not we wanted to accept Texas A&M as a member of the SEC. Texas A&M had submitted a formal application for admittance to the SEC. But due to the latest development we weren't able to extend that invitation.

"However, we did vote last night. And I believe we sent a very strong message in our action last night. We had a unanimous vote to, basically, say that we would be willing to invite Texas A&M to be a member of the SEC pending a resolution of the legal issues that are still outstanding between them and the Big 12.

"We, basically, said the letter we received (from the Big 12) needs to be reaffirmed by their league. Once that is the case, then we will extend an invitation. But it has to be to our satisfaction that we feel satisfied that we won't be encumbered by lawsuits that will be tied up in courts for years.”

Comments

You can follow this conversation by subscribing to the comment feed for this post.

I felt that was really a violation of trust right there,” Loftin said. Last year I made a 10 year committment to the Big 12 (all the remaining 9 schools) and signed a 10 year contract with Fox. Sure many of the other schools had options last year and with my commitment to them passed on those options. Despite my schools code of conduct and respect for tradition I personally chose to throw all of that out the window. I want more money for my school while telling everyone else they are greedy. I do not want to compensate Baylor or other schools that will be financially damaged by my violation of their trust in me and Texas A&M. I certainly sdo not mind sharing equally with those that make twice as much as me but would refuse to share equally with those that make half as much as me. Anyway despite A&Ms violation of trust and abandoning a legal contract I am sure pissed that someone else has decided to keep their options opened.